Princesses Do Not Cry
by FlatFox
Summary: Evie needed to be prettier. Thinner. But she could never measure up to her mother's standards.
1. Chapter 1

**Trigger warnings.**

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Evie ran her hands down her body, able to feel each rib. She placed her hands on her waist, muttering a sharp curse when her fingers still didn't meet on both sides. She needed to eat less.

"Evie!" her mother called.

She felt like crying. If her mother was calling her for an inspection, she was not ready enough. She needed to be thinner. Prettier. A sob welled up in her, but she pushed it down. _Princesses do not cry_ , she told herself firmly.

"Evie!"

She hurried out of the room and to her mother. "Yes, Mother?"

"Princesses are never slow." Her mother gracefully rose from her throne-like chair and slapped Evie across the face, just hard enough to make it hurt but not hard enough to make a mark.

Evie's face crumpled from the pain and shame of never being good enough.

"No frowning!" the former queen told her sharply.

Evie straightened her face and then clothes and hair, hoping her mother would find her at least slightly acceptable.

"What is that unibrow?" Her mother looked at her closely. "Stupid girl, you can never do anything right." She pulled out a tweezers and plucked out a hair.

Evie almost winced, but stopped, remembering, _Princesses do not flinch._

"Tisk, tisk." Her mother swept around her, taking in everything. Then came the dreaded command. "Strip."

Evie did as she was told, folding her clothes neatly, _Princesses are always neat and clean,_ and then straightening for her mother to see.

"You're so fat, Evie," her mother told her. "How could you even think this is an acceptable weight?"

"I'm sorry, Mother," Evie murmured.

"Eat less."

"Yes, Mother."

"Who did your eyeliner today, Evie?"

"I did, Mother."

"It looks like a troll did it. Is that what you are, Evie? A troll?"

"No, Mother."

"Hm, well you look like one." Her mother swept around her again. "Your lipstick is no where near perfect."

The queen brought her hand up to Evie's face, almost causing Evie to flinch away, but she only roughly wiped at the corner of Evie's mouth. "There, that looks much better now. Must I do everything myself?"

"No, Mother."

Another slap. "That was not the correct answer. Princesses are never cocky and never talk back."

"Yes, Mother." Evie struggled against the tears threatening to fall. She wanted Carlos so badly. She wanted to curl into him and cry and he wouldn't care that princesses do not cry and princesses do not show weakness...

Her mother was circling her again, like a vulture closing in on his prey. She ran her hands over Evie's body.

 _Princesses do not shudder._

"I am shocked that you think this is an acceptable weight." The queen wrapped her hands around Evie's waist. "My fingers don't even meet! Evie, you are a disgrace to the family."

"I'm sorry, Mother."

"You should be. No one will ever want you."

Her mother was running her hands over Evie's hip bones now.

 _Princesses do not cry._

"Your hip bones don't stand out enough. Princesses' hip bones stand out. It's a sign of being thin."

"Yes, Mother."

"Say it."

"Princesses' hip bones stand out."

"Very good, Evie."

She needed Carlos. Desperately.

"Your hair is ugly. Is this what you call acceptable?"

"No, Mother."

"Well, do something about it."

"Yes, Mother."

Her mother ran her hands over Evie one more time before saying, "You may go, but don't let me see you again until you are pretty."

Evie snatched her clothes and all but ran out of the room.

"Evie!"

She turned, a sinking feeling overtaking her. "Yes, Mother?"

"Princesses do not run. You will walk gracefully out of the room with your head held in the proper manner."

"Yes, Mother." She gracefully turned and exited the room with grace.

 _Princesses do not cry._

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 **Please let me know what you thought! Thanks for reading :)**

 **-FlatFox**


	2. Chapter 2

Carlos usually escorted Evie to visit Dizzy. After all, safety was in numbers and Evie never failed to have a run-in with at least one man looking to use her.

Evie breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the shop, "Curl Up and Dye." After quickly closing the heavy wooden door behind them, she and Carlos climbed the winding stairs to Dizzy's room.

Dizzy, not unusually, was looking through her stash of jewelry. She looked up and waved excitedly.

Carlos glanced around, making sure everything was safe. "I'll be downstairs," he told Evie, turning to go.

"Are you...? I don't want you to..." she left the words hanging, afraid to say too much in front of Dizzy.

He reached for her hand. "I'll be okay."

She still wasn't convinced.

"Please." His eyes were deep. Pleading.

"I'm never going to forgive myself if..." she hugged his arm to her and kissed his hand softly.

His eyes closed.

"Carlos..."

He pulled away gently. "I won't." And then he was gone.

Dizzy bounced over to Evie as soon as Carlos was gone. She dragged Evie over to her bed and they both sat down. "I think you two like each other!"

Evie felt her face go hot. "We don't... It's not like that."

"But you do like him?!"

"I don't know." She honestly had never thought about it. What did it matter anyway? Neither of them could probably ever have any sort of normal relationship. Isle or Auradon. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she pushed away the thought.

"Why are you sad?"

Evie sighed and tried to put on a brave face for the younger girl. "Life hurts."

"But it'll make us a lot stronger than those Auradonians!"

How Dizzy could always be positive and upbeat, Evie never knew. But she admired her for it.

"If you love him," Dizzy continued, "then tell him."

"Well of course I love him," Evie began.

Dizzy squealed in excitement.

"But I also love you and Mal and Jay..."

Dizzy folded her arms in mock annoyment. "No, but a different kind of love!"

"I don't know," Evie replied. "I don't even know if I know what that kind of love is. Or if I even want that type of love."

Dizzy's eyes grew serious and she hugged Evie tightly. "It's ok. I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?"

"For pushing you into this conversation."

"You don't have to be sorry. But why are you suddenly so interested in boys? Ooh, do you have a crush?!"

Dizzy looked at her shyly. "Maybe..."

"Who is it?"

"Kory."

Evie squealed in excitement. "Oh my goodness!"

"I had my first kiss with him."

"I'm glad," she told Dizzy truthfully, shoving down the memories of her first kiss when she was only eight.

"Who was your first kiss?"

"Dizzy..." she was stalling now.

"Please tell me! I promise I won't tell anyone!"

Finally she relented. "Gaston," she whispered.

Dizzy's face fell. "Oh, Evie..."

"It's ok. I'm fine, really." She tried not to gag as the memory resurfaced over and over.

"Well did you ever kiss Carlos?!"

"No..." she replied.

 _They had been dancing. She had recently taught Carlos a slow waltz and they were practicing and talking and laughing. The moment was so peaceful, so pure. And in that moment she had wanted to kiss him. It had felt so natural. So right._

 _But then an image flashed through her mind. Carlos, sobbing next to her, in pieces on the floor. All because of what his mother had done to him._

 _And the moment had shattered like glass, sending shards deep into Evie's heart._

Dizzy was looking at her inquisitively. "Why not?"

Evie sighed. "He doesn't do well with kissing." She could sense another question coming, so she added, "That's all I'm saying about that."

Dizzy nodded. "Ok."

"Oh, hey, I brought some more jewelry for you. Do you want to look at it?"

"Do trolls like popcorn?!"

Evie laughed and pulled jewelry out of various pockets, Dizzy watching her as if she was pulling out fresh food.

"And then after this can we design some more outfits?!"

"Well, I brought my sketchbook." Evie pulled out the tattered book.

"Yay!" Dizzy clapped her hands in excitement. "This is going to be such a fun afternoon!"

Evie grinned.

* * *

 **Please leave a review and let me know what you thought :)**

 **-FlatFox**


	3. Chapter 3

Evie looked up to see Jay swaying on his feet in front of her. It looked like he would collapse at any second.

"Jay!" She set aside the black, white, and red quilt she had been sewing. "What...?"

Jay grimaced. "Dad..." He tried to pull off his jacket but groaned in pain.

Evie quickly stood and helped him out of his jacket as painlessly as she could manage, sucking in a breath as she took in the damage. "It's going to need stitches." She dragged the whole huge couch cushion off the couch and onto the ground. "Lie on your stomach on this. I'm going to go get the supplies."

She picked up Jay's coat, shaking her head at the blood staining the inside, before draping it over the couch to be cleaned later. She quickly found several rags, a bucket of water, and the wine Jay had stolen once for cleaning wounds. Then she hurried back to Jay. She sat on her knees next to him. "This is going to hurt."

He buried his head in his arms.

Evie gently wiped the blood away with one of the rags. Then she poured out some of the wine onto a new rag. "Okay, this is the wine now," she warned him before touching the rag to one of the gashes in his back. He hissed in pain. As she continued to clean the wounds she could feel the tenseness in Jay's back. There was no other indication he was in pain.

When she had finished with the wine, she set the rag aside. "What happened?" she asked softly.

"The usual." His voice was muffled but he didn't bother to raise his head from his arms. "Not good enough. Didn't steal enough stuff."

"Jay..." She hated to see him like this. He was so strong. But there were the times where she had to be strong for him. The times when he was hurt too badly to keep going.

She wiped away a tear she hadn't noticed sliding down her cheek and stood, telling him, "I have to get a needle and thread. Just rest for a couple minutes."

"'K," he mumbled, adjusting his head slightly and tucking it into his right elbow.

Evie took the needle she used for Jay's back out of her sewing box along with some thread and headed back to the main room. She stopped short when she saw Jay. His whole body was shaking and Evie wished she could leave him cry alone.

But there was work to be done. "Okay!" She entered the room feeling and sounding much more cheerful than she actually was. "Hopefully this won't take too long." She sat down next to him, cross-legged, and threaded the needle.

"All right. Here it goes." She hovered the needle over his skin. It was always the worst when she first started. She could hear Jay breathing deeply and slowly and she winced as she pushed the needle into his skin.

In and out.

In and out.

Soon she was engrossed in her work, forgetting it was skin she was sewing.

Suddenly, the sound of people climbing the stairs to the hideout jarred her into alertness. Jay raised his head.

Carlos stumbled into the room looking stricken. Mal was following close behind, looking absolutely murderous. She glanced at Jay's back and hissed angrily.

Evie watched Carlos collapse into a chair. There was something almost vacant in his expression. It was horrible. She wished she could help him. But she couldn't. It would only make things worse. She went back to her sewing.

"I am going to murder that fucking shit," Mal spat.

Evie didn't even glance up. "Language, M." Yes, things could be bad, but Mal was usually over dramatic. "Besides, does that even grammatically make sense?" She smirked.

"I can use swear words wherever the hell I fucking want."

"That's enough, M. Swearing isn't very attractive."

"Besides," Jay interjected, "you're not the one getting a needle poked repeatedly into your already sore back."

Evie felt a twinge of regret for causing him more pain. She changed the subject before Mal could get any madder, if that was possible. "You look pretty pale, Carlos. What's up?"

Carlos said nothing. Mal shifted her weight to her other foot. "I found him on the roof. I think he was thinking about killing himself again. Judging by how he's been acting, I'd say Cruella did something pretty bad to him. I have to go do some chores. You good, E?"

Evie almost laughed. She would probably escape even if she had said she needed Mal's help. "Yeah, go ahead. I'll finish getting Jay patched up and then we'll work on Carlos."

Jay shifted slightly to look at Carlos. "Carlos? Hey. What's up?"

Carlos shook his head.

"Please talk for me? You're safe here. She's not going to find you here."

He didn't reply. Instead he rolled up his right sleeve and began running a finger over his arm. Over and over.

Evie knew only too well what he was looking at. The image flashed through her mind.

 _There was blood everywhere. And finally, when everything was clean, she could make out the word carved into his arm._

 _Worthless._

She finished the final stitch. "You're done," she told Jay. She collected her supplies as Jay carefully stood and walked over to Carlos.

Evie stood and brought her supplies back to the kitchen, quickly put the needle back into the sewing box, and entered the room in time to hear just what had happened to Carlos.

"She... she," Carlos shook his head, looking like he was going to faint. "She kissed me again. Twice. And," he swallowed, hard, "touched... me."

Evie was at Jay's side in a second. "Don't make any sharp moves or you're going to tear out the stitches and I'll have to redo them," she warned, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Jay took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Evie rubbed his shoulder encouragingly. Then she looked to Carlos, extremely worried. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Don't leave me." She could see the panic building in his eyes.

"We're not going to leave you," Jay told him reassuringly. He turned to Evie. "Do we have any food in this place?"

Evie hurried to the kitchen and grabbed some food and a small cloth to act as a community plate.

She set the cloth down in front of Jay. Carlos slid to the floor to join him. Evie also sat down.

Jay began stuffing food in his mouth like a wild animal. The sides of Evie's mouth twitched upwards a little at the sight.

Jay looked up from stuffing food into his face. "Aren't you going to eat?" he asked Evie.

The food looked so good. But then she remembered, _Princesses are never fat_. "No, I'm not hungry," Evie sighed, looking at the food longingly.

"Eat," Jay commanded, shoving a not-so-moldy piece of fruit at her.

She nibbled on it and then gagged. She couldn't ever eat if she wanted to. What a failure. "I'm sorry... I can't eat."

"Eat it." Jay was stubborn.

"I can't," Evie cried. "Why don't you understand?!"

"Hey," Jay replied soothingly and pulled Evie to him. She melted into the hug and sighed, wanting nothing more than to cry.

But princesses do not cry.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Please leave a review :)**

 **Thank you to ArabellaRoseD, BlueMoon007, BevieAndHevie4Life, LoveShipper, and Descendants5HLM for reviewing! Your reviews mean so much to me :)**

 **-FlatFox**


	4. Chapter 4

She lay there on the cold stone, not moving.

Evie walked hesitantly towards her, her breath turning into smoke before her eyes. "Mal?"

She looked up sharply, eyes glowing electric green. "Go away, E," she muttered through clenched teeth, hugging her arm to herself.

"No."

Mal tried to sit upright, but quickly sank back down, hissing in pain, her hand flying to her side.

Evie knew it must be bad. Mal never acted injured and she certainly never vocalized her pain. "What's wrong," she demanded. The worry mustn't show through her voice, or she'd be rejected immediately.

"Broken ribs. Possible broken arm." The words were spit out as if each syllable were painful beyond belief.

"Is that all?"

"Well there are a lot of cuts, but that's minor."

Evie nearly rolled her eyes. That much blood never meant anything minor. But the fact that Mal was admitting her weakness worried Evie beyond words. "Can you stand if I help you?"

Mal closed her eyes. "Yes." And she did stand, mutely, her face pale and eyes closed, leaning on Evie heavily for support.

"All right, let's go."

"Mother…" she whispered fearfully.

"She left. We should be okay."

When they got back to the hideout, Evie guided Mal to the bedroom and onto one of the beds. She looked over Mal's injuries. There were two broken ribs and her arm was, indeed, broken. Her body was covered in gashes, some made by a whip, but others made by a knife. A few of the cuts were already infected.

"What did she do to you?"

"I don't remember much."

Evie sighed with impatience. "What do you remember?"

"She beat me with that magic stick of hers. I know she whipped me for a while. I think she cut me with a knife, too, but by that time I was pretty much unconscious. I woke up chained in her dungeon."

"The usual way?

"Yes."

"With your broken arm?"

"Why would she care. I wasn't good enough, I needed to be punished."

"M, you are good enough."

Mal looked at her in shock, as though this thought had never occurred to her before. Evie watched her break. She began sobbing and gasping as each sob hurt her.

Evie hugged her carefully, stroking her hair. "Shh, it's going to be okay," she whispered soothingly.

Between sobs, Mal spoke. "After a while… maybe three… days? ...She unchained me… but I couldn't… stand. She...just left me… there. I'm… so… weak."

"M, you aren't weak. You're so strong. Never, ever listen to anyone who says you're weak."

"Yes, I am!" Mal screamed. "I'm weak! Pathetic! Useless!" She broke down sobbing again.

"M…" Evie began.

"Go away!" she screamed.

Evie left the room, head held high. _Princesses never show when they are hurt,_ she viciously reminded herself.

She rounded the corner to see Jay and Carlos sitting on the couch. It was clear they had been intently listening to everything that had been going on. Jay moved over slightly and Evie sat between him and Carlos. Taking Carlos's hand, she leaned against Jay, who put an arm around her.

"What's up?" Jay asked, moving his head slightly to look at Evie.

She sighed. "It's really bad. Basically her mother beat her, broke a couple ribs and an arm, chained her up the usual way. She insists she's useless and weak."

Jay sighed. "Just let her cool off a little."

"Yeah." Evie nodded in agreement. "Then I'll go try to fix her up." The tears welled up in her eyes. _Princesses do not cry._ She let out a slow, shaky breath.

"Hey, you're okay," Jay told her soothingly.

She smiled a sad smile. "Thanks."

But nothing was really okay.

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 **This chapter was a little shorter than I would have liked it to be, but for some reason I just have a really hard time writing for Mal!  
**

 **I hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review :)**

 **-FlatFox**


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